About Luis Mallo

Using the camera as a tool of documentation and artmaking, Luis Mallo takes evocative photographs of people, storage spaces, and partially obstructed urban landscapes. His training in graphic design, coupled with his decades of photographing, has given him a keen sense of composition and an eye for the telling detail. Through deft framing, he makes the mundane compelling. For his “In Camera” series (2001–5), he traveled across Brooklyn and Queens, shooting streets and buildings partially blocked by construction fences, fogged windows, and other structures. His resulting large-scale photographs possess visual contradictions: they appear both familiar and faraway, abstract and also recognizable. His images urge viewers to peer through the interfering scrims and apertures to see what lies beyond. “An interesting work of art for me is one that perplexes and makes you question what it is you’re looking at,” he once said.